Beat the Heat With This SuMMER READING LIST

We don’t need to be told twice how unbearably hot the summer months (and spring months, and some of the fall months) are in Houston. We live it every year, we sweat through shirts daily, and we stumble into the arctic blast of blissful air conditioning as often as we can. I personally do not enjoy summer at all, so I’m always looking for any alternative to being … well, outside. Whether you plan to spend the next three months indoors or you’ve got plans for a dreamy vacation somewhere, use this reading list to detach from the world around you for a bit and enjoy a bit of peace and quiet. Happy reading!

Beach Reads

“Same Time Next Summer” by Annabel Monaghan

“Summer Sisters” by Judy Blume

“That Summer Feeling” by Bridget Morrissey

“The Farm” by Joanne Ramos

“The Nigerwife” by Vanessa Walters

“The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett

Controversial

“Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury

“Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison

“Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson

“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison

“The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas

“The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood

Nonfiction

“I’m Glad My Mom Died” by Jennette McCurdy

“Not Now, Not Ever” by Julia Gillard

“Quietly Hostile: Essays” by Samantha Irby

“The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Save the World” by Jonathan Freedland

“The Teachers: A Year Inside America’s Most Vulnerable, Important Profession” by Alexandra Robbins

“When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach” by Ashlee Vance

Self-Improvement/Self-Help

“7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess” by Jen Hatmaker

“10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works” by Dan Harris

“Essential” by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus (The Minimalists)

“I Will Teach You to Be Rich” by Ramit Sethi

“The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning” by Margareta Magnussen